By my count, MLS has seven non-American coaches: de los Cobos, Nicol, Nowak, Smith, Warzycha, Yallop, Backe. There are some others who were born abroad but came here at varying points in their lives and become citizens. The record of the teams coached by the seven listed above so far this year is 62 wins, 60 losses, 39 ties. A little better than breakeven, which means the Americans as a group are a little bit below breakeven. Most of the focus on possible foreign coaches in recent years has been on coaches with no MLS experience. It may well be that down the road we are more likely to see a foreign national team coach who has MLS experience. Perhaps someone who has had some success in MLS then gone abroad to a more prominent league or team. I find it interesting that the foreign coaches are doing as well as their American counterparts this year. It would be interesting to look at past years and see if this is a consistent result. I leave that to someone else to do. Bruce Arena and others have argued that the coach of the national team should be an American. It would appear that at least in MLS, being a foreigner has not been an impediment to success. Of course, most non-American MLS coaches have some exposure to the American system and player. I don't think any of us would argue that this is not a good thing. Still it is interesting that someone like Hans Backe can come in with little knowledge of the American way and have some success. To be sure, he has an able American assistant in Richie Williams. At the same time, I think it is likely that should a foreigner (with no MLS experience) someday be hired to coach the national team he would make it a priority to hire an able American assistant. My basic point is that the records of the MLS teams coached by non-Americans this season suggests that there is no special advantage to be gained by being an American coach in MLS.
Yeah, but I think the Metrodardars had shown a significant improvement before Henry and Marquez came aboard. Non?
Only one of them had previous "major" league and international coaching experience and that is de los Cobos, who's arguably been fairly mediocre. Of course, he kind of bombed out of the Mexican league and his claim to fame is improving El Salvador from the 110's Elo's ranking to the 90's. Yallop coached Canada with disastrous results. Warsycha, Nowak, Smith and Nicol never head-coached outside of the US. Bakke, at least, was very successful in Denmark. IMO, MLS is a useful experiment with foreign/domestic coaches. My wish for MLS owners to jump higher than the League One level talent like John Carver and at least sign the Championship level gaffers. Cookie Coleman is available. I'd like to see guys like him given a try. PS. Arena's rant is obviously nonsense anyway. The bulk of the US players is already overseas, so a European or a South American coach would have to only adapt to the European portion of the US player's mentality. I may not even have to add that the US mentality is often considered a generic US player's main advantage anyway, so it's not anything to be considered inferior, as Bruce implied.
I agree that the current group of foreign coaches in MLS do not have an overly impressive pedigree. Yet they are holding their own. What does that say about the domestic contingent?
The problem with the fereiners as you put it, is not actually the ablity to deal with the american player so much as it has and always will be a willingness to learn and not bitch about the rules. Hans Backe is a great example of this. He has said maybe I do not have the freedom or the money to go out and buy great players so I have to work with what I have. And he has done it very well. He has embraced the system of MLS. The problem is that a lot of outside coaches just seem unable to or in reality unwilling to learn and deal with the sometimes draconian rules of MLS. And that is where the problem lies. If more coaches just said ok there is a system here and I have to learn that system a lot of them would be much better off.
American soccer is very special...even american with your MLS league..mostly of MLS players are American...this league dont attract more players from Europe, or at least the best players..however, it does not mean that MLS is bad...MLS is even american.. and produce more and more talents.. American national soccer USMNT is also doing better and better and it is no more unknown team with unknown names....many USMNT players play in Europe, learn a lot they learn in different european countries, many of them in Germany or England..different soccer nations...so they have already some "european" knowledges.. what they need now..is American coach who understand american culture, your mentality, MLS etc...even specific American soccer style...American coach is right for you... many greetings from Germany bltleo
This isn't entirely true. The percentage of American players in MLS is probably similar to the percentage of German players in the Bundesliga. I heard a commentator during the Bundesliga game I watched this past weekend say the percentage of Germans in the Bundesliga is 49% this year. (an increase from last year). If I remember correctly, the number for MLS is similar. [Lots of Mexicans, Colombians, Argentines, Canadians, Central Americans, Carribbean players, etc.] What this has to do with the USMNT is beyond me........but it's true nonetheless. Maybe we're making a correlation with the USMNT job. I don't think it's necessary that the USMNT coach has an intimate knowledge of the player pool (and US soccer in general) before he takes the position. Did Guus Hiddink know the ins and outs of Korean football when he took that job? He probably knew a little............got himself some assistants who could help him understand the player pool.......and just went about evaluating & training players.
I appreciate the OP's point but I question how valid the comparison is. A foreign coach in MLS may have an impediment given the differences between our league and what is most common elsewhere in the world in terms of acquiring/developing players, etc. That coach has only to prepare for other MLS teams. A foreign coach coming in to lead USMNT must prepare for foreign teams, and no matter how highly or lowly fans think of Gulati and USSF and CONCACAF, our team is competing in a framework that is the same as elsewhere in the world. In other words, as a rhetorical point I think there is a greater argument for the likelihood for success of a fereiner with USMNT than can be seen with MLS since the knowledge from outside the borders is more applicable in the context of FIFA competition than the domestic league. But I guess we'll have to wait a few years to find out, eh...?
I agree with this. And you can apply whatever compound factor you find appropriate to account for the fact that the fereiners coaching MLS teams are not exactly the creme de la creme of the profession. And yet they are holding their own in MLS as a group. Since the point of my initial post seems unclear to some, let me clarify. I started this thread mainly as a commentary on the quality of the domestic coaches in this country not the fereiners. The fereiners' success (adjusted for their quality as a group and the supposed unique aspects of MLS and American soccer that require getting used to) provides an interesting benchmark imo.
If you ever watch streamed matches (I do a lot), you have a chance to watch a lot of the various leagues. If you rate play on the fundamental quality - percentage of passes completed, speed of play/transition, ball striking, chances generated - MLS ranks pretty darn low among them. I wrote here once after watching Michael Parkhurst's Newsealanders at Porto that the Danish squad was playing like mini-Arsenal - their touches were nearly immaculate, the ball and off-the-ball movement was first rate, the transition game was from end to end, etc. Teaching that sort of game has to come before being able to put top level strategic plans because those are chess moves that depend upon a high skill level of all players. So, the level of players limits the coaches' ability to design more sophisticated strategies. Ruud Gullit, who is not known as a strategic/tactical genius, would have been a good fit for MLS because he made the Galaxy to play a more fundamental ball. Bruce Arena, however, showed that the "bunker and cross" strategy can be just as effective in this league ... until you go into the CONCACAF, where that quickly becomes obsolete. Bruce teaches up to the level of his players without necessarily making them better. Gullit tried to make the players better. They responded until they stopped responding. Now, whom would you hire for MLS? The same coach would have a much better chance of asking more from the higher quality players that now comprise the USMNT. These were the attacking 5 for RSL's tonight match vs. Toronto in C-CAF CL group stage. 22 Nelson González (M) 8 Will Johnson (M) 77 Andy Williams (M) 10 Robbie Findley (F) 15 Alvaro Saborío (F) One Yank. Which makes RSL's sort of a "if you can't beat them, you join them" approach. Get 4-5 furen attackers in the $250K-$350K range each (Kreis could have also played Morales and Espindola) and fill the rest of your roster with the cheaper American and South American defenders. That the definition of a pre-fab offense.
By the way, if you listened to Dwayne DeRosario's comments yesterday, Preki gave no game plans to his team and they largely did not know what they were doing tactically. Now, Preki won the MLS Coach of the Year for his job with the Chivas USA in 2007, where he replaced non other than Bob Bradley. Does this mean that having no plan is better than having a dumb plan? It almost makes you think so.
well o.k...maybe i see that from my perspective..I could not imagine for German national coach another coach as German..Germany is big soccer nation with long history and good history track...so for us only German coach can be considere and it is the best for German soccer. regarding national team...in German National team in world cup 2010, all national players played in the Bundesliga (Ballack that time Chelsea was injured, Ballack is in Leverkusen now)..with this national team that all players played in the Bundesliga, we played fantastic soccer, i would say the best soccer in this world cup.....o.k..now Özil and Kedhira play in Madrid..Real Madrid..but still majority or mostly our national players play in the Bundesliga.. this is big diference to USMNT.. USMNT players - play in MLS, Bundesliga, England or other countries - in different leagues, with different soccer style...this is what i meant. you have good coach now..he was successful in the world cup...so why to change him? o.k USMNT has not such a big soccer tradition as Germany..so maybe foreign coach is also o.k for you......it looks like Klinsi is still not so interested....and other top coaches also do not want this job at USMNT.....but HIDDINK would be cool for you....this would be good choise for USMNT...he has international experiences..... what about our Lothar Matthäus?...he has also international experiences.. i think if you want foreign coach, then a coach with a broad international experiences just my opinion... you know that you are better with your knowledges about USMNT as me...also just my opinion..o.k greetings from Germany, my friend
You mean, every MLS team would be better off without tactics because Preki once won coach of the year. If a team tried to hire a competent European coach, like Ruud Gullit, the results would be as bad as they were with Gullit, since MLS players aren't good enough for such a coach. To sum up: tactics are the most important element of soccer, and MLS teams shouldn't try them. Or have I misunderstood?
This sounds a lot like what Hans Backe is trying to bring to his team. Below are the first couple paragraphs from an article based on an interview he gave the NY Post. The Red Bulls may be in a first-place tie atop the Eastern Conference, and riding a three-game winning streak, but coach Hans Backe is far from satisfied. Oh, he's happy they healed their injuries over the break, with Mac Kandji on the verge of an expected July 17 return. And he's pleased they've taken to his defensive schemes. But he's still looking to increase the quality on the pitch _ targeting a Designated Player midfielder _ and the killer instinct in their eyes. "The decision making is getting better, when to go forward, how to move the ball,'' Backe said. "(But) we have to show more mentality. We're tied for No. 1 in the East; we have to reach that mentality too, to be No. 1. These few paragraphs sum it up nicely. He taught the team a new defensive scheme, is still working with them on their decision making when it comes to going forward, and interestingly enough also wants them to develop a more confident mentality. I'm tempted to say a few things about how all this applies to the national team. But we all know our players just aren't that good. Maybe even the coach isn't that good. But that wouldn't be surprising when one considers the milieu in which he was formed.
US soccer isn't as unique and different as people think it is. There's no reason foreign coaches can't succeed in MLS or with the USMNT.
No, you didn't. In fact, you have perfectly explained the MLS careers of Bora Milutinovic, Carlos Alberto Parreira and Carlos Queiroz.
actually i think this is unique soccer..different than soccer or football in Europe.. we have many sucessfull leagues..play in champions league..havemore games in season.. MLS clubs ..hm..they don´t participate in all these Champions Leagues tournaments.. they are so unknown...have not many stars....and stars that were at MLS like BEckham were there just for promotion..nothing else...who knows about MLS in Europe?.. USMNT players in Europe play in many european leagues, but are not really the top players at Clubs..your best player Donovan has tried to be first class player in Leverkusen and Munich...and he has not managed.....so MLS and USMNT is unique.. but USMNT is not bad...actually i liked them much more in the world cup than England.. you play fantastic soccer....i like this american style...this easy-going style: we can not lose anything, just win or something like that.....you really play wonderful soccer... i like this american quality in your soccer....oyu was fantastic in world cup 2002.. and world cup 2010...and i believe you will be good in 2014 as well... but american soccer is american soccer
...hm what about "my" Ballack as your next coach?...the poor Ballack has been injured again...and his club Bayer Leverkusen won so impressive 4:0 in Europa League..hm... Ballack will stay in Leverkusen at least for next 2 years.....he could be good coach for UMSNT...but super expansive.....with Ballack you have at least a good looking coach.. Germany has had in last years always good looking coaches: Klinsi, Löw... well back to your topic... why MLS should be attractive for foreign coaches ?..any advantages compared to other european leagues like Bundesliga, Premier League etc...?...your thoughts???
Well, the MLS career of Queiroz is eerily in sync with that of his Portugal national career. Carlos is his own explanation.
Portugal had the best single half against Spain than any other WC opponent ... then Carlos took out Almeida and the team went into a toilet (although the Spanish goal may have been offside). That said, the guy is an expert tactician. He should be getting job offers any day now.
His expertise in tactics consistently translates, when he is the one in charge, to a defensive shell which can occasionally crack, and an attack that is barely capable of threatening the goal when playing against any opposition above, say, North Korea. The first half against Spain [the entire match, in fact] was a testament to what 11 men can do when playing Hadrian's Wall. It was also a testament to what kind of offense a wall can generate. But the Spain match was not a fluke. The two matches against Bosnia, to finally qualify for the Cup, had all the warning signs flashing brightly; and were typical of the sort of self-inflicted damage Portugal had shown under Queiroz's whole span. He is an assistant, and a very good one. But an incompetent when in charge.